Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates Monday night for "refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States," the White House said.

"(Yates) has betrayed the Department of Justice," the White House statement said.

Dana Boente, US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, the White House said, and was sworn in at 9 p.m. ET, per an administration official.

Trump didn't call Yates to dismiss her, she was informed by hand-delivered letter, according to a different administration official.

The dramatic move came soon after CNN reported Yates told Justice Department lawyers not to make legal arguments defending Trump's executive order on immigration and refugees.

“For as long as I am the acting attorney general, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the executive order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so,” she wrote.

The public break-up between the White House and a top Justice Department official has only occurred on a handful of occasions. The most well-known former split took place in 1973 when President Richard Nixon fired AG Elliot Richardson over his refusal to effectively investigate the Watergate scandal.

Ms Yates’ sacking comes less that a week after Mr Trump banned immigration from seven majority-Muslim nations including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. The Executive Order will remain in place for 90 days.

It was followed almost immediately by the dismissal of Acting Director or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Daniel Ragsdale. He will be replaces by Thomas Homan.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer challenged those opposed to the measure to resign.

He said if “career bureaucrats have a problem with it ... they should get with the program or they can go”.

“If somebody has a problem with that agenda,” he added, “that does call into question whether or not they should continue in that post.”

On a related note, the State of California is turning it's entire attorney general staff into protection lawyers for any citizen or person in need of protection from the federal government under Trump.

Original Quill wrote:It's inevitable. But we thought the crumbling would take place during the election. His rejection is coming a bit late.

But that's why I say it should be a good show. Lots of political precedent to be made in the ensuing months, if not weeks, to get the guy out of office and his work undone.

But the Republicans are being disassembled, surely and certainly. They have got to own him, and...OUCH!

Do you think there could be a new raft of legislation to enforce things that used to be done out of decency?

* Required disclosure of tax returns

* Strict enforcement of the "only one president at one time" tradition

* Required divestment of business interests

Etc?

...and a constitutional amendment to remove the electoral college? Absolutely, but you are going to need a Democratic Congress to get it done.

It's all about this concept of 'normalcy'. Normalcy has precedent, but no legal standing. One of Trump's tactics is to attack institutions that are done under normalcy, but not under law. Actually, we have been seeing the Republicans stretching the rightward boundaries of normalcy for some time. Voter restriction? Extreme gerrymandering? Michigan's Emergency Manager Law?

So Republicans are willing to go along with a lot. But the outrageous stuff...the embarrassing stuff...those are going to be Trump's downfall. He is likely violating the EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE of the Constitution right now, but playing shell games with the evidence. He has likely already violated the ESPIONAGE ACT, and TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES (18 U.S. Code Chapter 115), with his Russian contacts (including submitting to blackmail with the dossier tape). He has already gotten away with bribery, fraud and income tax evasion. These things will come to light in the next year or so, and eventually it will bring too much ill-repute down on the Republicans.